Rock band Battles breaks down their epic song "Atlas" -- by the minute. You won't want to miss the tom-tom around 7:04.

A live performance of the song "Atlas" taped on March 30, 2007 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Video by Rainbo Video.

Battles is a rock band that doesn't play rock. Instead, they pit the ideas of four distinct personalities with long music résumés (drummer John Stanier was in Helmet, for example) against one another, with alliances shifting like a game of Diplomacy. In the song "Atlas," from their second album, Mirrored, they play guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, sometimes two at a time, and further loop pieces through digital gadgetry, allowing four people to play eight or more parts at once. Battles has built a completely different rock machine using the same old tooling.

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Below, a deconstruction of "Atlas" provided by the band. To hear the album version of this track, visit myspace.com/battlestheband. While slightly longer than the album cut, the live video above will give you a solid idea of the Battles' sound in action.

Intro 0:00-0:43
Drummer John Stanier begins the main beat, "Schaffel," on the low tom-tom. Dave Konopka counters with a bass loop, piling three notes on top of one another. Tyondai Braxton joins in with a digital loop called "Bath Turtle," built of beat-boxed bass, drums, high hats, and snares. Ian Williams joins the alliance, playing guitar with his left hand, keyboard with his right.

Verse 1:15-1:44
Stanier adds a snare and high-hat attack after every vocal. Williams plays keyboards with his left hand while chugging his guitar with his right. Konopka plays a growl challenging the vocal "woah-ey-oh."